You should always keep that firmly in mind if you happen to have any dealings with Silk. It’s perfectly all right to like him, but don’t ever make the mistake of trusting him. He’s married now, but his wife’s at least as devious as he is, so I wouldn’t trust her, either.

After we’d visited with Kheldar’s family for a few days, Pol and I went down to Kotu and took ship for Val Alorn. When we got there, I borrowed some horses at the palace, and we rode to Trellheim. Barak was eight years old or so, and his cousin, Anheg, the Crown Prince of Cherek, was about a year older. Anheg was visiting his cousin, and the two of them were already almost as big as full-grown men. Barak had flaming red hair, but Anheg’s hair was coarse and black. They were a couple of rowdies, but that was to be expected. They were Chereks, after all.

I introduced Pol to them, and she managed to get them to stay in one place long enough for a talk.

‘Well?’ I said to her as we were riding back to Val Alorn, ‘what do you think?’

‘They’ll work out just fine,’ she replied. ‘They’re noisy and boastful, but they’re both very intelligent. Anheg’s going to make a very good king, I think, and he already relies on Barak.’

‘Did you get any sense of what that “Dreadful Bear” business is all about?’

‘Not entirely. It’s got something to do with the Godslayer. It could simply mean that Barak’s going to go berserk if the Godslayer’s in any kind of danger, but it might go even further. Maybe it’ll get clearer by the time Barak’s full-grown.’

‘Let’s hope so. I’d like to know about it a little in advance if there’s going to be an actual change.’

We sailed back to Darine from Val Alorn, and then went on to Annath. The twins went back to the Vale, and I said good bye to Pol and took the Great North Road back to Boktor. I wanted to have a look at Prince Kheldar’s uncle, Rhodar, the Crown Prince of Drasnia. I talked with him for a bit, and I wasn’t disappointed. Even as a young man, Rhodar was decidedly chubby, but what a mind he had! The three of them, Rhodar, Anheg, and Cho-Ram were all going to be outstanding kings, and I was fairly sure we were going to need all their talents when things started to come to a head.

I was on the go almost continually then, so I seldom got back to the Vale to talk with the twins. We stayed in touch, though.

Then, in the spring of 5346, they told me that Pol had gone off on another of those mysterious errands of hers and that they were filling in for her at Annath.

I hurried back there so that I could talk with them face to face. Our means of communication was convenient, I’ll grant you, but there were Murgos in the west again, and where you’ve got Murgos, you’ve also got Grolims, and Grolims have ways to pick random conversations out of the air. I definitely didn’t want some Grolim locating Polgara and tracking her back to Annath.

‘I wish she’d let me know what she’s going to do before she just runs off like this!’ I fumed when I met with the twins. ‘Where’s she gone to this time?’

‘Gar og Nadrak,’ Beltira replied.

‘She’s gone where?’

‘Gar og Nadrak. This time it was the Mrin that told her to go there. You remember those Nadrak “friends” we told you about back in the forty-ninth century? And you went there to have a look?’

‘Yes.’ Of course I remembered. That was the time I’d picked up all that gold.

‘These “friends” are out and about now, so Pol’s gone to Gar og Nadrak to identify them.’

‘I could have done that!’ I shouted in a sudden fury.

‘Not as well as Pol can,’ Belkira disagreed. ‘Don’t yell at us, Belgarath. We just passed on the instructions to her, we didn’t make them up.’

I got control of myself. ‘Where exactly is she?’

‘She and her owner are in Yar Nadrak.’

‘Her owner?’

‘Didn’t you know? Women are considered property in Gar og Nadrak.’

Chapter 48

It was in that same year, 5346, that a recurring pestilence broke out once again in western Drasnia. The disease appears to be endemic in that part of the world, and I rather think that the fens might have something to do with it. It’s a virulent kind of disease that’s usually fatal, and those who survive it are generally grotesquely disfigured.

Since Pol was off in Yar Nadrak, I was obliged to spend a year or so pinned down in Annath. I kept an eye on Geran, but we seldom had time to do any fishing, since he had other things on his mind. He was in the process of building his own house, and every time Ildera’s clan was near the border, he spent just about every waking moment with her. Ildera was a tall blonde girl and very lovely. Geran seemed quite taken with her, not that he really had any choice in the matter. It appeared that the Necessity could handle those arrangements all by itself even when Pol wasn’t around to guide the young people into those marriages. That made me feel rather smug, for some reason.

It was about midsummer in the year 5347 when a bone-thin Drasnian named Khendon came to Annath with a message for me. Khendon was a margrave, I think, but he had better things to do than sit around polishing his title. Since spying seems to be Drasnia’s national industry, most members of the Drasnian nobility routinely attend the academy of the intelligence service, and Khendon had been no exception. It’s while they’re at the academy that they pick up those distinctive nicknames, and Khendon had been dubbed ‘Javelin’, probably because he was so thin. Though he wasn’t really very old, Javelin was already one of the best in the service. I’ve always rather liked him. He’s one of the few men in the world who can keep Silk off-balance. That in itself makes him extremely valuable.

He leaned back in his chair in Darral’s kitchen while Geran’s mother was fixing supper. Darral and Geran were still hard at work in the stone-quarry. ‘I chanced to be in Yar Nadrak, Ancient One,’ Javelin told me, ‘and your daughter looked me up. She gave me a message for you.’ He reached inside his doublet, drew out a folded and sealed sheet of parchment, and held it out to me. ‘She said that you’d understand why she chose to do it this way instead of what she called “the other way”. What did she mean by that?’

‘It’s one of those things you don’t need to know about, Javelin,’ I told him.

‘I need to know about everything, Ancient One,’ he disagreed.

‘Curiosity can get you into a lot of trouble, Javelin. There are two worlds out there that sort of co-exist. You take care of yours, and I’ll take care of mine. We’ll try not to step on each other’s toes too often. Believe me, it’s smoother that way. I’ve been at this for a long time, so I know what I’m doing.’ I broke the wax seal - which I’m sure Javelin had carefully replaced after he’d browsed through the message - and read the note from my daughter.

‘Father,’ it began, ‘I’m ready to come home now. Come to Yar Nadrak, and bring plenty of money. My owner will probably expect a sizeable price for me.’

‘What’s the going price for a slave-woman in Gar og Nadrak, Khendon?’ I asked the skinny Drasnian.

‘That depends on the woman, Holy One,’ he replied, ‘and upon how good a bargainer the buyer is. Bear in mind the fact that there are three parties involved in the bargaining.’

‘Would you like to explain that?’

‘The woman’s interested in the price too, Belgarath - since she gets half, and since the price is an indication of her value. As a matter of pride, your daughter’s going to insist on a very high price.’

‘Even from me?’

‘It’s a quaint custom, Holy One. You do want her back, don’t you?’

‘That depends on how much it’s going to cost me.’

‘Belgarath!’ He actually sounded shocked.

‘I’m joking, Khendon. Just give me a round number. I’ve got some ten-ounce gold bars knocking around in my tower somewhere. How many should I take with me?’

‘A dozen or so, at least. Anything less would be insulting.’

‘You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?’

‘You’re the one who asked the question, Belgarath. I’m just trying to give you my best guess.’

‘Thanks,’ I said in a flat tone of voice. ‘What’s her owner’s name?’

‘Gallak, Holy One. He’s a merchant who’s involved in the fur trade. The fact that he owns your daughter gives him a certain amount of prestige, so he probably won’t sell her cheaply. Take my advice and bring plenty of money to the bargaining table.’

I stood up. ‘Keep an eye on things here, Khendon. I’ll send the twins up to relieve you as soon as I get back to the Vale.’

‘It shall be as you say, Holy Belgarath.’

I walked on out of Annath, went falcon, and flew directly to the Vale. I spoke briefly with the twins, then I hunted through my tower and finally located my stack of gold bars - behind a bookshelf, if you can imagine that. I tucked about twenty of them - twelve and a half pounds or so - into a saddle-bag, and then I went north in search of an Algar clan to provide me with a horse. I’ve imposed on the Algars that way any number of times over the years.